Niger coup: Good sign for Chinese investments in the Sahel?

By Al Mayadeen English
Source: South China Morning Post
31 Jul 2023 15:40
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Just as the previously deposed leader of Burkina Faso and Mali, Nigerien President Mohamad Bazoum also happens to be backed by the West.

Nigeriens participate in a march called by supporters of coup leader Gen. Abdourahmane Tchiani, seen in picture, in Niamey, Niger, Sunday, July 30, 2023 (AP Photo/Sam Mednick)

Is the military coup in Niger a sign of good economic prospects for Chinese investments in the Sahel region? Writing for the South China Morning Post, Jevans Nyabiage argues that it is far from being the case.

As China is looking to extend its global infrastructure development strategy, the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), the opportunity is met with challenges as civil disorder and instability weaken the capacity for China to expand as a global power.

While China holds a wide range of interests across the Sahel countries, in particular the mining and petroleum industries, it called on all parties in Niger to solve disputes through peaceful means.

According to Rahmane Idrissa, a senior researcher at the African Studies Centre at Leiden University in the Netherlands, the military was taking advantage of a regional trend that was becoming more tolerant of coups.

Franco-Nigerien ties have sustained severe damage to their diplomatic and economic relations as a result of this putsch -- including Niger's overall relations with the West.

The Wagner Group, a Russian private military contractor who is referred to as 'mercenary' by Nyabiage, is not a determining factor to the coup, Idrissa said, noting that "the Kremlin is certainly happy about it, not because it helps the Nigeriens, but because it might help their progress into West Africa, which has been favored by the juntas of Mali and Burkina Faso."

Idrissa said that China was present in Niger as an economic partner in the country's eastern oil fields, noting that the coup would have no effect on the deal.

Just as the previously deposed leader of Burkina Faso and Mali, Nigerien President Mohamad Bazoum is backed by the West.

This however did not prevent China from attempting to get through the loopholes of Western dominance and establish points of contact with Bezoum which it has for long worked on consolidating -- in particular through the trade and infrastructure projects of BRI.

What this implies is that all the progress that has been achieved so to has crumbled. But it is uncertain whether that is true or not since none of the deals sealed with Chinese investors have been annulled so far.

According to China’s Ministry of Commerce, China’s state-owned China National Petroleum Corporation and China National Nuclear Corporation invested US$4.6 billion and US$480 million in the country’s petroleum and uranium industries respectively.

Niger also supplies around 5 percent of the world’s highest-grade uranium, which has recently become a hot commodity on the global market.

Bazoum had earlier this month met with China’s ambassador to Niger Jiang Feng to discuss the construction of an industrial park in the capital of Niamey. Topics of discussion included developments in sectors such as agro-food, manufacturing, mining, and real estate.

The two also discussed the Niger-Benin export pipeline currently being developed by the China National Petroleum Corporation, a pipeline that spans almost 2,000km (1,200 miles) and is intended to increase Niger’s crude oil production.

Mohammed Soliman, director at the Middle East Institute in Washington, said that "Niger’s possession of significant uranium mines and other valuable resources, such as gold, raises concerns about the potentially far-reaching implications for the global economy."

He further said that further escalations in the region could result in severe consequences for China's economic interests and investments in Niger and neighboring countries.

"The instability may disrupt infrastructure projects, extractive industries, and other ventures China has invested in, posing risks to its economic stake in the area," Soliman said.

On July 27, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said that the recent events that unfolded in Niger were reflecting a larger trend in the belt of Africa south of Sahara, where extremism and military escalations have been plaguing the Sahel region for a long time.

"We are seeing a disturbing trend," Antonio Guterres said. "Successive unconstitutional changes of government are having terrible effects on the development and lives of civilian populations."

"If you look at the region, you have the dramatic terrorist increase of activity in Mali, in Burkina Faso, in Niger and coming closer and closer to the countries of the coasts," Guterres said, noting that military governments are gaining sway even amid "a fragile transition in Chad and a horrible situation in Sudan."

Since the start of the Ukrainian conflict, the African continent has been swept by a wave of change fueled by a sentiment of anti-Western imperialism.

Burkina Faso and Mali, which are also part of the Sahel, have recently transitioned to military-ruled governments via coups by toppling their Western-backed leaders.

Just like those African leaders that were toppled by military juntas, Bazoum was also backed by Western powers -- up till June 23, Niger's parliament approved a new national anthem, marking the first steps to free the country of any relics of French colonization.